6 dead in Kandahar, Uruzgan attacks

KANDAHAR CITY/TIRINKOT (PAN): Two policemen and as many civilians were killed during a clash between police and insurgents in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, officials said on Sunday.

The overnight clash erupted after a group of armed rebels attacked a police post in the district bazaar, the governor’s spokesman, Javed Faisal, told Pajhwok Afghan News. The crossfire continued for two hours.

The town’s administrative head, Haji Fazl Mohammad, confirmed the firefight and the casualties, saying that four policemen were injured.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed that a police commander was among several officials killed in the assault.

Meanwhile, intelligence officials showed media a rebel commander and seven suspected insurgents they arrested during operations in the province. The detainees confessed to their involvement in terrorist activities.

A National Directorate of Security (NDS) official said the detainees included a rebel commander, Hidayat, a resident of the Gizab district of central Uruzgan province. The official said Hidayat was arrested on the basis of an intelligence tip.

Hidayat told Pajhwok Afghan News that his brother, also an insurgent commander, had been killed in a clash with security forces. After the death of his brother, Hidayat said he went to Pakistan, where the Taliban appointed him a successor to his brother.

He confessed to have carried out a number of rebel activities, including planting roadside bombs, in the four southern provinces.

The seven other detainees -- Mohammad Amin, Khan Mohammad, Abdul Ahad, Gul Ahmad, Sardar Wali and Syed Mohammad -- were blamed for planting roadside bombs. They told reporters they had been involved in anti-government activities for many years.

Elsewhere, a policeman and a civilian were killed in a roadside bombing in Tirinkot, the capital of central Uruzgan province. The mine tore through a police vehicle in the Charamgar area at around 2pm, police spokesman Farid Ayel said.

Uruzgan Civil Hospital Director Dr. Izzatullah said they had received the bodies of two policemen and an injured cop, who was later evacuated to a health facility of foreign troops in critical condition.